Free-Range Living

'The Wood From The Trees ---- ' 

  September/October sees the start of operations here on the micro-holding (small smallholding)  to prepare for the oncoming harder winter season, which seems to be a natural - and satisfying - process. Central to it is organising fuel for the winter, ensuring 'safety and security', of which sorting the wood, the main fuel, is paramount. The bought element, constituting around two-thirds of the total supply, has been in store in the 'logs-istics' centre since May, busily drying away (dry wood means less tar deposits in the burning system) and which fortunately has not risen too much in cost over the last, say, ten years, unlike some fuels, and, of course, is a renewable fuel source. The third to be added from the woodpiles on site has to be lugged up in a handtruck to the sawing area near the cottage, to be then stored under cover at the front of the open garage.

Then a two-man sawing session is set to take place, one feeding the wood onto the sawhorse (a frame to support the wood), one doing the actual sawing, with a big chainsaw that goes through the wood like butter. In, say, a one and a half hours sawing session, a satisfyingly large pile of sawn wood then materialises, to be then stored in the dry on top of the bought supply (comes already sawn) - a fullish woodstore is certainly a good, fulfilling sight at the start of winter. The bought supply of wood in particular tends to be hardwood, so it's handy to have 'small' wood to burn with it to keep a good fire going in the woodstove. This has come from the house renovation next door, loppings last autumn from the paddock's mini orchard and a recent delivery of free wood pallets from a useful contact. Either the small sawbench saw or a mobile circular saw deals with this 'small' wood to be then stored in its own bay in the logs-istics centre. There's just something basically satisfying in this sort of seasonal 'preparation' work, linked directly to the process and art of living -----  

Autumn promise -----

After a sunny August, for a change, it's been the same for September, with a reasonably regular supply of rain too right through, making it an excellent growing season hereabouts on the organic, eco micro-holding (small smallholding) in the UK midlands, and giving that agreeable 'green and pleasant land' outlook. Wasps have been back on the scene after two-three virtually wasp-free years, helped no doubt by the fact that they've taken up residence in a nest under the eaves of the cottage. They seem to die off at this time of year, so 'wasp corpse' clearing has been one activity - good though to see them alive and buzzing ----- There's 'straw gleanings' to be had this time of year from the adjoining corn fields, very handy for the chickens. The straw is baled up after the grain has been harvested using a combine harvester machine, leaving clumps of straw on awkward corners for instance. In olden times poor rural dwellers had a common right to 'glean' the corn stubbles after harvest, gathering up any left over corn -'the crumbs off the table --- ?'

So retaining the gleaning tradition gathering up a bit of waste straw is similar, and as straw is used both in the chicken shed and in their pen to keep them from having to walk at times in wet dirt - it's a useful solution to the situation. Talking of  animal care and welfare, good to see down town in one of the main supermarkets a prominent notice stating that their policy is not to stock milk products from dairy herds that do not have acess to natural environments to then be able to follow natural behaviour patterns (eg. grass grazing areas). Cows used to be 'close' grazed in the UK, getting access to small areas of grass daily, promoting bullying behaviour on the part of the older, bulkier cows, to the detriment of the younger herd members. One dairying 'innovator' (over-used word these days - ?) decided to open up the whole of the cows allocated grass area to them, resulting in them then being able to practice their natural 'roam grazing' habits, and in a lot calmer de-stressed cows, then able to 'express' their fuller productivity and last longer ( this principle could then  apply to people ---- 'freerangers' -?)

Multi -tasking -----

Plenty of other seasonal activities to go at too, such as hedgecutting, applying nettlejuice to this year's good leek crop (touch wood, no alium leaf miner attack so far), lopping spars off trees/ bushes, and such on-going work as digging potatoes, pulling beetroot and picking beans, as well as making delicious preserves from the damsons in the orchard.Then there's still mowing to be done, the smaller lawns and half the paddock (less frequently), digging in green manure, and general sorting and tidying of the considerable vegetation about here. A busy-ish time of year, it's true, but because of the purposeful nature of the seasonal tasks it all seem to add up to 'general satisfaction', which can't be bad - touch wood the back lasts out ----- . The winter green plants such as the purple sprouting have really put on a spurt and are, fingers crossed, looking the biz - good to see strong, healthy 'unstressed' plants, full of promise ----

'Small beer' -----

It being often quite warm, such autumnal activities can work up a thirst, which in the olden days, with people, for instance, doing hard physical harvesting work (eg. scything), used to be as often as not slaked by beer. This would have been as like or not home brewed on the farm, not exactly the same then as 'small beer' which was probably found more in towns and was cheaper, the poor relation of beer, used presumably mainly by the poor, in the days when it was safer healthwise to drink beer rather than water. This low-grade beer has given rise to the expression 'small beer', basically meaning 'of not too much importance'.

That at times though is in need of qualification - the activities mentioned above here on the micro-holding are of course 'small beer' within the realms of, say,' national affairs', but to those involved in them they are absorbing and rewarding activities - beer then of a higher-strength full-bodied variety ----- So-called 'ordinary' everyday activities and events can maybe at times written off too easily, especially against more exciting and more prominent situations to do with, say, fame and fortune - ? There could of course be an age related aspect to this - excitement may sit more prominently with the younger generations, for instance, quieter satisfactions and fulfillments with older folk - ?  The author Michael Foley has recently written a book advancing the potental extraordinary positive aspects of the ordinary, ( Embracing the Ordinary )  , whilst awhile back John Stewart Collis did much the same ( Visions of Glory), and there are many books devoted to the art and joys of 'simple living' (eg. Timeless Simplicity  John Lane )    ) Maybe, paradoxically, seeing the satisfactions in the 'small' things, actually needs the larger level of awareness, rather than the smaller, as some may be tempted to think - ? This could involve the ability to go beyond the confines of current cultural conditionings, probably one of the keys to 'freeranging' - ?

'Qualities of mercy ----- ?'

A recent example of such 'cultural conditionong' reported recently  in the UK papers was the case of three school cleaners in the north of England who'd had their wages and employment conditions cut when their service had been taken over by a private firm, which then also pointedly refused to recognise or deal with the ladies' employees organisation  - it seemed that it wanted/needed all the power on its side. The good and effective teamwork operations of these particular ladies was then thrown into jeopardy - they felt their only option to oppose this imposed reduction in their reward for their labour was to resort to stike action - withrawl of their labour, getting too, much local support. It might seem to many that rather than follow the pattern of the current culture in this case, it may well have been more long-term productive to act less in the single interest by employing the 'partnership' approach, in which everyone is seen to be entitled to getting ' a fair crack of the whip', and which in itself offers more recognition of this team's contribution.

The quality of mercy does not seem to have been overstrained in today's culture, to the point that some might say that man's humanity to man has withered somewhat on the vine, resulting in a degree of de-civilisation  - ? Interestingly, a couple of headlines in today's broadsheet papers seen in a cafe downtown,appear to support these thoughts. 'If even chimps can manage empathy, why can't we?', said one, and the other: 'Our world encourages social isolation. No wonder there's so much loneliness'.

Small can be beautiful ----- ?

 Zen and Sufi Masters from way back when also promoted the notion of being able to extract pleasure fron 'the ordinary'. Baso, for instance, an Eastern Master, on pulling up water from a well, is said to have exclaimed 'look, I draw water! How extraordinary, how wondrous '. There are some of course who might say he might just have been out in the sun a bit too much, or as they might say in Liverpool scouse land 'he's a bit of a head-the-ball'. On the other hand, those that can gain pleasure and joy from simple, 'ordinary' activities and situations -'exalting in the ordinary' - are surely onto something, and perhaps risk getting overall more satisfaction and fulfillment out of life than those who forever need 'more' and or 'bigger and better' - ? Quite a few of the micro-holding 'delights' are linked to 'small' events, as some would see them, which could hold good for growing activities generally, as exemplified in the way Karl Schwenke finishes his Successful Small-scale Farming book :

    'The farmer surveys the worked field, sown now with seed, and is content, feeling good'